Preservative For Gluten-free Bread

I've been experimenting with my bread making for a couple years now. On a recent trip to Buffalo, NY I visited a restaurant that had gluten-free items on the menu and even served dinner rolls. Well, that made me more try a couple more things. I found that adding garlic, onion, pepper and even oregano made the bread much more enjoyable (although with garlic it wasn't the best in the morning with jelly!!).

I've also been taking the bread dough out of the bread maker and rolling it into balls and then I allow them to rise (I even make a pan of small rolls and larger rolls for sandwiches). Since I'm only making the rolls for me, they don't have to look pretty -- and some have been very different! I've found that they don't dry out as quickly, you can make a sandwich with them (sliced bread always crumbled while eating after only one day). I also toss them in a ziploc bag and into the freezer and they seem to do better than sliced bread.

I've been using the same recipe as I was using for a loaf of bread and I'm much happier being able to eat an almost real sandwich! My brother, who is in denial of having celiac, even loved the rolls during his christmas visit (his 3rd helping let me know he enjoyed them). [/FONT]

Has anyone else tried Hagman's recipe for tapioca bread? I have been baking this one for the past month and my family loves it. However I don't make loaves out of it, I make buns with English muffin rings and hot dog buns out of small foil loaf pans. Then I freeze them and they stay really nice after thawing and toast up just like regular toast, which my family likes. We use them for sandwiches and they don't fall apart at all. Surprize-surprize. Shirley

I have tried the tapioca bread and thought it was delicious. My only problem with these breads are that they are so fattening. If anyone one has a low fat version I would love to have the recipe.

I prefer the 4 bean flour breads in Bette's gluten-free gourmet bakes bread cook book. It stinks like beans when mixing in the mixer, but smells like bread when it bakes, and tastes wonderful.

I also make more buns with english muffin rings too. I put each bun in a separate freezer sandwich baggy and then put all of those in the large freezer baggy. I find double bagging my stuff keeps them fresher. If I put them in a bag while slightly warm, they tend to stay more tender. Someone else suggested using plastic shoe boxes for more stackable storage. Put the individually baggied items into an airtight, well labeled plastic shoe box in the freezer. Suppose it takes up less space. I haven't tried that yet. And I use dough enhancer from www.authenticfoods.com. It works like the vinegar, but I find my breads last a little longer and have a little better texture to them.

Also, I found www.kinnikinnick.com has some really good sandwich breads that were tender. I didnt have to eat it toasted. Oh they have bagels and other bread like things, and I loved the donuts!

As for the bread machine...it is really designed for wheat breads and really does a disservice to gluten-free breads. I don't even use mine anymore. It takes less time with a mixer because it takes only three minutes to mix in a mixing bowl, and then 30-50 minutes to rise in a pan (less for muffin rings) and then another 30-50 minutes to bake (buns cook faster than loaves). The trick to these gluten-free breads is to not overwork them, which is completely opposite to a wheat bread. With wheat breads, the more chewy you want a bread, the more you knead the dough. Kneading is essential...the very thing that will ruin a gluten-free bread. So, I find in the bread machine, the stirring process: 15-30 minutes , and the second rising, is what makes the gluten-free breads more dense.

And for any bread making, whether gluten-free or not, make sure your ingredients are at least room temp. and the water is also the right temp. If the ingredients are too cold from storing in the fridge or freezer, then the warm water won't do much to help activate the yeast. Yet, if the ingredients are warm enough and the water is too hot, it can kill the yeast. Both will produce dense breads. Last, make sure the dough doesnt rise too much. gluten-free flours are lighter than wheat and can rise higher, but will also mean collapsing is more inevitable. I have been baking regular breads for years, and I find this to be the most frustrating part of a gluten-free bread. If I get distracted and don't pay attention to my bread, suddenly it's too high. If I did that with a wheat bread, I just punched the dough down and started over...can't do that with gluten-free bread. I often forget that bread will continue to rise for about 10 minutes (more or less) after being put into the oven. So, if the loaf looks about the size I want it and I haven't put it in the oven yet, I've probably let it rise too high.

I'm amazed to see another thread where somebody thinks all white or distilled voneagr is off limits. Once again, almost all distilled vinegar is made from something other than wheat, and even if it is made from wheat, distilling makes it gluten-free.